Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sublett, Kentucky 41465
Friday, February 26, 1999 19:45 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot checked weather, calculated en route times, and fuel required before departing. He activated his flight plan, requested and received radar traffic advisories, and climbed to an altitude of 7,500 feet msl. Once over the London Airport the right fuel tank was indicating empty, and the left tank was indicating half. During preflight, the pilot calculated that both tanks should be indicating half, but he continued the flight figuring the right gauge was faulty. Approximately 20 miles passed London, the pilot lost radio contact with ATC, and became disorientated. It was night, visibility was approximately 4 miles, and both the right and left fuel tanks indicated empty. The pilot started to doubted his initial assessment that the right gauge was faulty, so decided to make an off airport precautionary landing to a field. While on final, and approximately 50 feet above the ground, the airplane contacted wires and crashed. The pilot had a 130 hours of total flight experience. Five gallons of fuel in the left tank, and 6 gallons in the right tank were found. The commutation radio, navigation radio, transponder and alternator were tested and found to function properly.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper decision to continue the flight with a perceived excessive fuel consumption, and delaying his decision to execute a precautionary until night, which resulted in the airplane impacting wires. Factors in the accident were the pilot's lack of total flight experience, and being lost and disoriented.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/26/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1945 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | SUBLETT |
| Event State | KENTUCKY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 41465 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Bright |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 4 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 77 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 27 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1945 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 27 2001 4:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N25856 |
| NTSB Number | NYC99LA067 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 152 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 152 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1528021 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1650 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 7 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 7477 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MIDDLE TN STATE UNIVERSITY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1940 MEMORIAL BLVD |
| Aircraft Owner City | MURFREESBORO |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 37129 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MBT |
| Departure City | MURFREESBORO |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | BKW |
| Destination City | BECKLEY |
| Destination State | WV |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 27 2001 4:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |